Don’t overthink this: Taylor Hall belongs in Bruins’ long-term plans

Author Ty Anderson

May 14th, 2021 7:39 AM

Players like Taylor Hall aren’t supposed to simply fall into your lap.

But that’s exactly what happened to the Boston Bruins last month when Hall, possessing a full no-movement clause on a one-year deal with Buffalo, used that as the chip to force his way to the place he’s wanted to call home since 2010. Instead of shelling out a first-round pick and emptying the already-barren prospect cupboard to acquire Hall, the 29-year-old cost the Bruins a young player who had clearly fallen out of favor (Anders Bjork) and a second-round pick in a year where in-person scouting opportunities have been few and far between. That alone isn’t supposed to happen.

And if the Bruins are smart about the rarity of what’s happened to them here and the opportunity in front of them, they’ll know better than to call it quits and let Hall leave The Hub following the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

• Share

  Let's start with a simple question: When's the last time something like this happened to the Bruins? Better yet, has it ever happened for them in this era? Sticking with this management core, the Bruins unsuccessfully chased superstar free agents John Tavares and Ilya Kovalchuk in 2018. (They even pulled out all the stops only to get denied by Jimmy freakin' Vesey!)
  
  They paid a premium to acquire one-time superstar scorer Rick Nash about four years (and a couple concussions) too late. And going back to before Don Sweeney got the promotion to the big chair in the TD Garden conference room, they acquired Jarome Iginla five years too late if you were looking at it from a pure championship window maximization standpoint.
  
  Even their misses for high-end talent have stung; Sweeney's bid for Senator-turned-Golden Knight Mark Stone during the 2019 trade deadline came up short, and Stone has since been an MVP-level producer (and now team captain) for the Knights. Tyler Toffoli, who drew interest from the B's in 2020, has been the league's sixth-best goal scorer since moving out of LA.
  
  And dating back to 2015, the main price to acquire Hall (that second-round pick) has netted the Bruins wingers such as Brett Connolly, Lee Stempniak, and Marcus Johansson. This time around, it got 'em the 2018 Hart Trophy winner.
  
  Now, there are reasons for that, of course. Hall was a lost soul in Buffalo, and played the worst hockey of his career. But when he's said and (more importantly) done all the right things in every single shift since escaping the Buffalo quicksand, does it make sense to sit here and wonder when the anvil is going to drop on your head while Hall steps out of the way?
  
  The answer for you Worryin' Tonys out there is no. An emphatic one at that.

• Share

  For all the 'bad teammate' and 'locker room problem' discourse that comes up whenever we want to do anything besides believe in Hall flipping the narrative on its head, we conveniently ignore the Ryan O'Reilly story.
  
  O'Reilly, the main reason why the Bruins did not close the deal and win a Stanley Cup in 2019, was like Hall. I'd almost argue that his baggage was worse. Going back to his Colorado days, the Avalanche had plans to build around O'Reilly and Matt Duchene as the pillars of their franchise. With that in mind, they wanted O'Reilly to take a discounted contract like Duchene. O'Reilly chose not to do that. O'Reilly was also frustrated that the Avalanche didn't give him the bigger role he felt that he deserved (it's believed he wanted the captaincy over Gabriel Landeskog), and signed an offer sheet with the Flames.
  
  The Avs matched the offer sheet and kept him in Colorado, but O'Reilly was dealt to Buffalo just two years later. In Buffalo, O'Reilly bottomed out, and outright admitted that he "lost his love for the game" while playing for the Sabres. There was a drunk driving charge thrown in there. Not exactly what you'd consider model citizen, excellent face-of-the-franchise stuff.
  
  But we don't talk about that now. We instead talk about what an unbelievable, game-changing talent O'Reilly, now a team captain, has been for the Blues. You know why? Because he learned what he wanted and also didn't want out of a franchise and himself, and found the right culture and the atmosphere to bring the best out of his game.
  
  Why can't that be Hall in 2021? Especially when he's shown you that no, he's not 'a dog' or anything close to a quitter.
  
  "He's a real invested player for us at both ends," Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said of Hall. "Since he's been here, I think he's opened up a little more since he's been here with the players and just personality wise, so that tells me right away he's more comfortable in the room and it shows on the ice, obviously. But I think he's been good since he got here from Day 1."
  
  "He's rejuvenated," Brad Marchand said. "He's excited to be here and to be part of a group like this. And what I love seeing about his game is his details. He's really committed to taking care of pucks and back-checking hard, he's busting his butt back and he's made a lot of great defensive plays. He's finished his checks, he's good in his routes and stuff like that. Sometimes when you come from a team that might be at the bottom league, it's easy to lose those [details]. But he's so dialed in right now and he's such a gifted player that he's going to get his opportunities and make plays and and we're lucky to have him.
  
  "Off the ice he's an awesome teammate, great guy, and we're happy to have him here. Feel very, very fortunate. When we saw that he got traded here, we were so excited that he was coming to the group. We know he's going to make a huge difference."

• Share

  Hall's positioned to make a difference for the long haul, too. And in a role that suits him perfectly.
  
  One of the constants I've noticed in pushback on the idea extending Hall to a long-term deal is money. But the truth is that it's almost certain that Hall isn't going to be looking for $8 million per year on his next deal. He tried that, and he failed. That contract was signed to be Jack Eichel's No. 2 in Buffalo. In Boston, Hall is — at the very most — the fifth- or sixth-most important Boston skater. The salary should and will reflect that if he's going to be here beyond this season. (I'd consider somewhere between the Marchand and David Pastrnak contract to be the sweet spot on a Hall extension.)
  
  And with over $50 million in career earnings but just two postseason runs, and with his 30th birthday around the corner, the priorities are likely changing for Hall. That's almost definitely why he wanted to come to this locker room so badly.
  
  If Hall is going to command $8 million per year on a new deal, it's not only not going to be in Boston, but it's going to be going back to a situation that puts him in the limelight as the face of the franchise (and it's unlikely to come from a team that keeps Hall in a position where he's regularly competing for a Stanley Cup), which is a spot that he'd be wise to avoid at this point.
  
  It also doesn't sound like something that he's necessarily eager to throw himself back into, at least if his constant praise for the city and obvious desires to stay here comes with even an ounce of truth.
  
  But in Boston, Hall would be asked to be a second-line assassin. For the foreseeable future, too. There's nobody in Boston that's going to bump Hall out of place, and nor would a Hall extension roadblock anybody major in Boston's pipeline.
  
  Hall is your classic window-extending kind of rental-turned-core piece. And if it was the Bruins' original plans for Nash before concussion issues forced him to retire, and if it was the plan for Iginla before he changed his mind and wanted one last multi-year deal, why on earth wouldn't it be the plan for a younger, more productive, and higher-ceiling talent like Hall?
• Share

  One thing the Bruins have stressed when it comes to a potential Hall extension is waiting to see how the postseason plays out.
  
  Now, part of that could be posturing. It doesn't make any damn sense to extend Hall before the Seattle expansion draft. Maximizing this protection list is why you haven't seen any of the Bruins' pending free agents signed to new deals.
  
  But if Hall's Boston future truly comes down to postseason success, the top of the Bruins braintrust didn't learn from their mistake with Tyler Seguin. Frustrated that he didn't give them 'half of what [Patrick] Kane' did during a 2013 postseason that came with just eight points and a career-worst 1.4 shooting percentage (it's still the worst of Seguin's postseason and regular season career), the B's shipped Seguin (a quarter) out for three shiny nickels and one of those cool pennies with a hole in it.
  
  It didn't take long for the Bruins to regret that trade, and it's amazing that they escaped it as unharmed as they did.
  
  There's no point in taking that chance again and letting another high-end talent walk out the door for less than it did in 2013.
  
  And this would probably be even more devastating when considering the half-decade long hole on the second line that would be right back to the forefront of the Bruins' issues should the Bruins decide that Hall is not long for their future. 
  
  Especially when looking at the gift of a deal that's made this all possible.

Ty Anderson is a writer and columnist for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Yell at him on Twitter: @_TyAnderson.

Get The 98.5 The Sports Hub Newsletter Delivered To Your Inbox

Stay up to date with the latest Boston sports news and analysis, local events, exclusive contests, and more.

Email *

Subscribe

By clicking "Subscribe" I agree to the website's terms of Service and Privacy Policy. I understand I can unsubscribe at any time.

Author Ty Anderson

Category:

• The Sports Hub
• Bruins
• News
• Ty Anderson

Tags:

boston bruins,Taylor Hall